A petitioner on Monday told the Supreme Court he had accessed documents in the Library of Congress in New York City that prove there was a larger conspiracy behind the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi, IANS reported.

Pankaj Phadnis, a member of Hindutva group Abhinav Bharat who filed a plea in the top court seeking to have the investigation into the assassination reopened, told Justice SA Bobde and Justice L Nageswara Rao he had obtained the documents “in a sealed cover”. He sought permission to file them in court as he said they are banned in India. He has moved the Bombay High Court to have the ban on the documents lifted.

In his plea, Phadnis claimed that the investigation into Gandhi’s assassination was “one of the biggest cover-ups in history”. He claimed that Nathuram Godse and Narayan Apte were not the only ones involved in the conspiracy to kill Gandhi. Phadnis said four shots were fired at Gandhi, and that it was the fourth bullet – fired by a mysterious person – that killed him.

Phadnis said he had consulted an attorney in the US, who told him it was possible to obtain forensic evidence in the case, PTI reported. He said the lawyer told him technology had made it possible to examine the wounds on Gandhi’s body from photographs published in newspapers.

At the last hearing in January, the bench had asked the petitioner to respond to the report submitted by the amicus curiae in the case, which said Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination does not require further investigation.

The Supreme Court asked Phadnis to submit an application with details of the documents he wanted to file. The matter will come up for hearing next on March 6.